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Why virtual reality can relax Alzheimer’s cruel grip

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Apps such as LookBack VR are helping to counter the debilitating effects of dementia by stimulating memories.

Virginia Matthews

September 21, 12.01pm

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Every three minutes, someone in the UK develops dementia, the umbrella term for the symptoms that occur when nerve cells in the brain become damaged and die. With the numbers of sufferers likely to soar from 800,000-plus today to more than two million by 2051, it has become a ticking time bomb for an overburdened NHS.

Described by the Greek philosopher Plato more than 2,400 years ago as an illness that “gives rise to all manners of forgetfulness as well as stupidity”, dementia has traditionally been treated pharmacologically.

Yet while there are a number of drugs that can relieve distressing symptoms, such as disorientation, forgetfulness and rapid changes of mood, there is still no cure for Alzheimer’s – or any of the other associated types of dementia.

However, new technology designed to unlock memory and boost day-to-day communication is offering real hope, both to those in the grip of cognitive decline and to their family.

Reminiscence therapy, where people are encouraged to relive their childhood or early life, is believed to play a vital role in preserving remaining brain function, reducing agitation and boosting overall emotional well-being.

To date, such therapies have focused on physical stimuli, such as photographs and printed memory books, together with trials of dedicated “dementia villages”, where those with the condition live in a safe and stimulating environment. But a new social enterprise is using state-of-the-art virtual reality to take reminiscing about the past to a new level.

LookBack VR is a mobile app by London-based start-up Virtue. Users can immerse themselves in the sights and sounds of anything from a 1950s sweet shop to Brighton beach in the 1970s.

Being there: a VR reminiscence room

Soon to be the subject of a six-month pilot by the NHS Walsall Clinical Commissioning Group, the app was initially trialled in care homes, where it gets people talking to each other and so helps them feel less isolated.

The pilot phase will extend its use to day centres and memory clinics, and there are ongoing talks with the BBC with a view to adding material from the broadcaster’s own archives.

But more than 60 per cent of people with dementia live at home, so the app has been released as a download for the public. It’s available alongside a growing range of software dedicated to brain training, improving physical balance or even identifying dementia-friendly shops and restaurants.

While apps such as LookBack VR or mobile-based memory games such as Sea Hero Quest – launched in 2016 to boost research into dementia – have the potential to improve people’s quality of life, could they also help to save money for the NHS?

“Building [dementia villages] is a very expensive way of combating a growing international problem,” says Virtue’s co-founder Scott Gorman.

“With the price of VR hardware dropping and smartphones becoming more advanced, the long-term aim of new technology is the creation of global platforms that can help people with dementia, wherever they happen to live.”

Although resistance to the use of cumbersome headsets was considered a potential hurdle, early trials of LookBack VR discovered an appetite for experimentation among the target market. “If one person agrees to put the headset on, others will follow and in an environment where daily life can be quite sterile, people have told us that using our technology was a high point of their day,” says Gorman.